<img height="1" width="1" style="display:none" src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id=2171572209666742&amp;ev=PageView&amp;noscript=1">
Blog

Single Sign-On vs Federated Identity Management: How do they work for your organization?

4 min read

Majority of the online activities these days requires identity authentication to access to apps and services. User credentials and logins can be found everywhere, from apps to hardware to websites. An authentication method is required to verify a user's identity online and to confirm entitlements so that privileged access can be executed. This also serves as a first layer of security, limiting access to sensitive data for individuals who have been granted by the organization. On the other hand, providing users with seamless access to multiple applications is also important to increase user satisfactions. Such a feature can be integrated in your authentication process by adopting tools like Federal Identity Management (FIM) or Single Sign-On (SSO). How could these two approaches help your organization? What is the difference between them? This article will provide you with a better overview on these two authentication services

Single Sign-on (SSO)

Single sign-on (SSO) is an authentication method that allows a user to securely authenticate access to various apps and websites with just one set of login credentials (for example, an ID and password). Enterprises, small businesses, and individuals can utilize SSO to simplify the maintenance of multiple users and passwords.  For example, SSO can make provisioning and managing employee credentials easier in Business to Employee (B2E) environments. Employees may log in once and obtain access to everything they need instead of keeping track of credentials for each service. It's also much easier to deprovision a single account if an employee leaves the company.

Similarly, clients frequently use a single corporate account or gateway to access several services or apps. Singpass account is a good example. After your apps’ Singpass integration, your users access multiple governmental digital services without requiring a separate account for each.

How can SSO authentication help your business?

  • Control who has access to a company's systems from a centralized location. 
  • Improves password policies by removing password fatigue and risky password management techniques.
  • Reduce the number of password-related calls to IT, saving money on IT and improving employee satisfaction.
  • Increase overall productivity by allowing for faster log-ins as fewer passwords are forgotten.
  • Better security and less risk of data breaches by minimizing the number of attack surfaces, as users just need to log in once a day and use one set of credentials.
Happy Employee Meeting (1)

Federated Identity Management (FIM)

Federated identity management (FIM) is a collaboration between many organizations or domains that allows users to access all of their networks with the same digital identity. Such collaborations are referred to as trust domains. Each trust domain, sometimes referred to as a Service Provider (SP), manages its own identity. All SPs, on the other hand, are linked by a third-party service that keeps users' access credentials and provides the trust mechanism required for FIM to run. The identity provider (IdP), which may be an entity like Google, Facebook, or even Singpass, is that third-party service.

For example, employees may use their single Singpass credential to log in to several SP’s apps integrated with Singpass, such as Salesforce or Skype. The SP and IdP exchange information so that the user may be authenticated and given access to the applications/services. Standard protocols can be used to establish FIM, including (but not limited to):

  • SAML
  • WS-Federation
  • OAuth2
  • OpenID Connect (OIDC)
  • Several proprietary protocols

Federated identity management (FIM) common use cases:

  • Following a merger or acquisition with new users required to be added to the system;
  • Access to the organization's resources is required by external vendors or distributors;
  • Users from commercial identity providers;
  • Users with credentials from a government agency;
  • Citizens who use a national identification provider's credentials
  • Access to several services such as Facebook, Google, Singpass and others
 
Why should you consider FIM implementation for your organization?

Digital transformation demands your ability to provide users with easy access to all the resources they require, even if those applications and services are hosted outside your firewall and controlled by third parties. FIM can facilitate such requirements, and thus you can:

  • Enhance security and prevent data breaches by allowing users to generate a single set of credentials that comply to tight password standards such as Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).
  • Boost employee productivity by transferring identity management to an IdP.
  • Increase customer loyalty and experience by providing secure access to numerous organizations' platforms.
  • Reduce expenses and improve IT resource efficiency by eliminating the expenses for individual login pages, authentication, identity management, data storage, and access.

How to differentiate Federated Identity Management (FIM) and Single Sign-On (SSO)?

Although SSO is a key part of FIM, the terms are not interchangeable. The most significant distinction between Identity Federation and SSO is the scope of access.

With SSO, users can access numerous systems within a single business using a single set of credentials (a single domain). FIM, on the other hand, allows users to access systems from several federated organizations at the same time. They have access to all the federated group's apps, programs, and networks.


Overall, both solutions can positively impact on your IT security and business aspects as they are time-saving and have highly-secure user authentication process. Successfully enabling authentication services of SSO and FIM for app integration like Singpass is one of our capabilities in enhancing overall cybersecurity postures of various organizations without trading-off user experience. Adnovum will support you in designing and implementing SSO and FIM services based on your business requirements and objectives.

Speak to our experts to learn how to leverage the SSO and FIM for your organization today.

Advantages of Leveraging On Federated Authentication

Published February 24, 2022

Written by

Picture of Nhi Nguyen
Nhi Nguyen

Marketing Manager

Placeholder